--- title: The West Is Losing the Global South Over Gaza description: President Biden's failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza runs counter to much of global public opinion. canonical: https://time.com/6330746/global-south-ukraine-israel-gaza/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: H.A. Hellyer article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-11-03T19:24:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:28:08.886Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The West Is Losing the Global South Over Gaza og:description: President Biden's failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza runs counter to much of global public opinion. og:url: https://time.com/6330746/global-south-ukraine-israel-gaza/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22f684623ac09667/698a41e3d075330fa2e6e8cd/GettyImages-1718540530.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-GAZA-ISRAEL-CONFLICT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The West Is Losing the Global South Over Gaza twitter:description: President Biden's failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza runs counter to much of global public opinion. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22f684623ac09667/698a41e3d075330fa2e6e8cd/GettyImages-1718540530.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The West Is Losing the Global South Over Gaza > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=5ada866c-1ad4-466b-aad9-b350e27ac473&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What to Know About U.S. Military Support for Israel’s Gaza Offensive [Watch (HLS stream): What to Know About U.S. Military Support for Israel’s Gaza Offensive](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cgtJ4g8m.m3u8) (2:48)  _Published 2023-11-03. As Israel races through its stockpiles of ammunition and air defense interceptors, it will be heavily dependent on longstanding U.S. support to replenish its stockpiles. The U.S. has promised to surge its military support for Israel, even as criticisms mount over the Biden administration’s failure to prevent the biggest recipient of U.S. military aid from causing significant civilian casualties in its offensive._ by [H.A. Hellyer](https://time.com/author/h-a-hellyer/) ## H.A. Hellyer H.A. Hellyer is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Nov 3, 2023 7:24 PM UTC As Israel races through its stockpiles of ammunition and air defense interceptors, it will be heavily dependent on longstanding U.S. support to replenish its stockpiles. The U.S. has promised to surge its military support for Israel, even as criticisms mount over the Biden administration’s failure to prevent the biggest recipient of U.S. military aid from causing significant civilian casualties in its offensive. by [H.A. Hellyer](https://time.com/author/h-a-hellyer/) ## H.A. Hellyer H.A. Hellyer is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Nov 3, 2023 7:24 PM UTC Washington has spent the better part of two years painstakingly building support for the U.S.-led international order after Russia [flagrantly violated international law](https://www.cfr.org/article/how-russias-invasion-ukraine-violates-international-law) when it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022\. But what success the U.S. has had in building support in the Global South for the rules-based order is coming apart in the wake of President Biden’s [muscular](https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog%5Fentry/white-house-says-not-drawing-red-lines-for-israel/) support for Israel’s [assault on Gaza](https://time.com/6326080/gaza-palestinians-grief-israel-hamas-war/), which has left at least [9,000people](https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-2-2023-6a398d4aeba979aef24960efc31eb772) dead, two-thirds of them women and [children](https://time.com/6330481/thakla-grief-gaza-israeli-airstrikes/). In the aftermath of [Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre](https://time.com/6321849/israel-attack/), which left an estimated 1,400 people dead in Israel, Western leaders rightly came out in full condemnation of that attack. That did not create a rift with a Global South that also largelyexpressed outrage over the horrific attack. But what did was the impression given by many Western politicians, especially in the U.S., that there was a [carte blanche](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/19/state-department-official-resigns-over-bidens-handling-of-israel-gaza-war) for Israel to “defend itself.” The death toll in Gaza is now far above the combined death toll of all prior Hamas-Israel wars. The linking of Ukraine’s struggle to Israel has also rankled many in the Global South—a comparison encouraged by President [Volodymr Zelensky](https://time.com/6329188/ukraine-volodymyr-zelensky-interview/) when he said that it [recalled](https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1712028724751630663?s=20) “the early days of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine” and urged all leaders to visit Israel. It’s an analogy that others, [including Biden](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/biden-oval-office-speech-israel-ukraine/index.html), have drawn and one in which many in the Global South have rejected. Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine; Hamas launched a horrific attack on Oct. 7, but it is Palestinians who have lived under Israeli occupation for decades. **Read More**: [_The World’s Job During the War on Hamas_](https://time.com/6324254/israel-hamas-war-peace-yuval-noah-harari/) As the death toll mounts in Gaza, Bolivia has [cut ties](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/bolivia-israel-hamas-gaza-war-crime) with Israel, while Colombia and Chile have recalled their ambassadors. The latter’s President, Gabriel Boric, [said](https://www.reuters.com/world/chiles-boric-after-condemning-israel-over-gaza-raise-concerns-with-biden-2023-11-02/) during his visit to the White House this week that the Israeli government’s response to the Hamas attack “deserves our clearest condemnation” in a politically awkward moment for Biden (though Boric declined to comment on Biden’s Gaza approach). The U.S. decision to [veto a U.N. Security Council resolution](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/us-vetoes-un-call-for-humanitarian-pause-and-corridors-into-gaza) on Oct. 18 calling for a “humanitarian pause” also provoked anger. One African diplomat told [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-veto-un-shield-israel-could-weaken-its-ukraine-rallying-cry-2023-10-20/) that, “They lost credibility with the veto. What is good enough for Ukraine is not good enough for Palestine. The veto told us that Ukrainian lives are more valuable than Palestinian ones.” An Arab diplomat said, “We cannot choose to call on the U.N. Charter's principles to protect Ukraine and ignore it for Palestine.” Some senior Western officials have acknowledged that perception of double standards. “What we said about Ukraine has to apply to Gaza. Otherwise we lose all our credibility,” one G7 diplomat [told the Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/e0b43918-7eaf-4a11-baaf-d6d7fb61a8a5). When Egypt convened the [Cairo peace summit](https://time.com/6326868/israel-hamas-war-cairo-peace-summit/) on Oct. 21 to discuss ways to de-escalate the Israel-Hamas war—drawing attendance from U.S., European, Arab, African, and Asian officials—some Arab leaders [railed](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/ukraine-gaza-global-south-hypocrisy.html) at what they called hypocrisy in how Russia had previously come under fire for breaches of humanitarian law, but not Israel. (Israel has been accused of [war crimes](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/), including air [attacks on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/2/un-rights-office-says-israeli-attacks-on-jabalia-could-be-war-crime)that left at least 195 dead; the U.N. has also said that Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack is a [crime under international law](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/have-war-crimes-been-committed-in-israel-and-gaza-and-what-international-laws-apply).) That’s “geopolitical kryptonite,” as the FT’s Brussels bureau chief [put it](https://www.ft.com/content/d4a5f131-dffe-494e-b1c9-13a3c69ad027). It would be too easy to claim that this is just a Global South vs. Global North rift. When the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Israel on Oct. 13, declaring support for Israel, several European nations [expressed outrage](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/10/24/von-der-leyen-fuels-eu-discontent-after-commission-chief-s-closely-watched-israel-visit%5F6198279%5F4.html) over the trip before a common E.U. position was agreed to, and criticized her [for not](https://www.politico.eu/article/internal-eu-discontent-grows-at-ursula-von-der-leyens-neglect-of-palestinian-statehood/) calling on Israel to respect international law amid its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. In the U.S., it’s [clear](https://news.gallup.com/poll/472070/democrats-sympathies-middle-east-shift-palestinians.aspx) the Democratic voting base is also in a different place than most Democrat politicians on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and there is [considerable discontent](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/27/biden-israel-palestine-muslim-americans-war/) within the Biden Administration among more junior personnel, who have used the “dissent channel” to voice concern. One noted State Department employee publicly resigned [over Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war](https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/10/31/josh-paul-state-department-resignation-israel-src-vpx.cnn). **Read More**: [_Don’t Give Hamas What It Wants_](https://time.com/6323654/israeli-human-rights-gaza-essay/) For their part, several hundred Western specialists on the Middle East have published an [open letter](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17PMDLLfROxNSxdlCAIqdieYl%5FvyA93ilmNHmqW%5FOlrM/edit) in favor of a ceasefire, reflecting a strong current of thinking across the political spectrum and leading think-tanks. In cities like New York, London, and Paris, there have been mass demonstrations in favor of a ceasefire—a position that Biden has shied away from. Most countries, however, back one; 120 U.N. General Assembly member nations [voted for a ceasefire](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/27/israel-gaza-war-un-general-assembly-call-immediate-durable-humanitarian-truce) in a non-binding motion on Oct. 27\. (Fourteen nations, including the U.S. and Israel, voted against; 45abstained.) There will be further crises in the future—such is the nature of international affairs. Successive U.S. administrations in the post-World War II era have made a lot out of the need for a global order underpinned by international law; if we truly believe that, then a great deal will have to change in Western capitals when it is our allies and ourselves that commit violations. Our partners in the Global South can see [double standards](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/10/26/double-standards-undermine-eu-legitimacy-in-global-south-human-rights-watch-chief) clearly enough—from the U.S-led war in Iraq, to Israel’s disproportionate use of force in Gaza. Let me be clear, the U.S.-led international order is preferable to a “might is right” approach favored by Russia and China. But it needs to be reformed, applied consistently, and based on international law. Otherwise, we can take the words of that G7 diplomat as given: “We have definitely lost the battle in the Global South… Forget about rules, forget about world order. They won’t ever listen to us again.” ## Transcript Days after a massive attack on October 7th. I came to Israel followed soon thereafter by President Biden to make clear that as long as the United States fans. Israel will never stand alone. Today in my fourth visit Israel since October 7th. I reread that in all my discussions with prime minister Netanyahu present Herzog the security cabinet. I reread it may clear our support for Israel's right to defend itself and its obligation to defend itself to provide for Israel's defense as well as for Urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza this right to self-defense and obligation to self defense belongs to Every Nation. No country could or should tolerate the slaughter of Innocents. You heard me speak to. some of the stories that Israelis have experienced on October 7th today. We saw a additional images additional footage. collected by the Israeli government from video cameras some the terrorist song others in communities that were attacked It remains almost. Beyond human capacity the process to digest I saw for example. The family on a cubit to Father two young boys, maybe 10 11 years old. Grabbing them pulling them out of their living room going through their very small backyard and into a shelter. followed seconds later by a terrorist who throws a grenade? into that small shelter and that is the father comes staggering out shoot some down. And then the boys come out. and they run into into their house And the camera in the house is filming everything and they're crying. Where's Daddy? One says the other says they killed Daddy. Where's my mommy? And then the terrorist comes in. And casually opens the refrigerator and starts to eat from it. 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